Taliban Says Seized 10 Security Checkpoints North of Afghanistan

TEHRAN (defapress) – Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement released on Wednesday claimed that the group has seized 10 security checkpoints in Khaje Ghar district in Afghanistan’s Takhar province.

News ID: 66073

Date: 27 September 2017 - 15:24

According to local media, the spokesman said that police forces abandoned the checkpoints after militants’ attack on Gor Tepa and Pol-Moamenin region.

"Seven police forces were killed and the rest retreated,” he said.

Afghan security officials have not confirmed the Taliban attack yet.

The Taliban claimed also that it has killed a local police and his bodyguards in an ambush in the Boyrak in the province’s Ashkamesh district.

The militant group has recently increased attacks on the province. Local officials confirmed last month that 30 villages in the region had fallen into the hands of Taliban.

Taliban fighters frequently attack police checkpoints as they are easy targets and present opportunities to seize vehicles, weapons and ammunition.

Authorities want to reduce and consolidate the checkpoints, but local residents say they feel safer with them.

Afghanistan is still suffering from insecurity and violence years after the United States and its allies invaded the country in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.

The military invasion removed the Taliban from power, but their militancy continues to this day.